Error in data robs Meghalaya villagers of PDS entitlement for 13 years

A village with over 50 households in Meghalaya's South West Khasi Hills district has not received foodgrains under the public distribution system for over 13 years, local MLA Renikton Tongkhar told the Assembly on Wednesday.

Tongkhar raised the issue during a call attention motion, referencing a newspaper report that highlighted how the villagers of Domtynrong have been deprived of food grains for more than a decade and have also been excluded from government schemes for over 20 years.

In response, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Comingone Ymbon acknowledged the issue, explaining that Domtynrong was inadvertently excluded from the state's public distribution system due to an error in the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) of 2011.

"In 2011, Domtynrong village was mistakenly classified as uninhabited leading to its exclusion from the NFSA beneficiary list," Ymbon said.

The SECC 2011 data serves as the Centre's database for identifying fixed beneficiaries of the NFSA allotted for Meghalaya - 77.79 per cent for rural and 50.87 per cent for urban areas, he said.

According to the Minister, attempts were made to rectify this error but the government of India maintains that any discrepancies in the database will only be resolved in the next SECC which is overdue since 2021.

"I understand that this exclusion has had a significant impact on the residents of Domtynrong, depriving them of their rightful entitlements," Ymbon said. He also mentioned that the state is expecting an increase in food grain supply to meet the demands of the growing population, which is projected to be approximately 38.16 lakh in 2023, compared to 29.17 lakh recorded in the 2011 SECC.

The Food and Civil Supplies Minister also informed that the state government will continue to engage with the Centre to reconsider revising the coverage limits to accommodate the leftout beneficiaries like those of Domtynrong.